Silly question

[Colwell]

Ok sorry for the silly question here... Does it really matter if my tank is fully cycled or not or can I just start adding plants whenever? I plan on dosing pps-pro n liquid carbon for now. I have a 55gal that's been running for almost a month now could be just over a month? I have been really busy so I lost track... I finally got around to doing a test and all the levels are showing 0 and ammonia shows .25, I have done nothing with this tank since its been set up, not even one water change. What should I do :s , I have been slacking on research lately. I have my cichlid tank that's been up and running for a while now I could steal some filter media from there to speed things up? I'm honestly lost right now on what to do been way too busy! Thanks in advance!

 

[Reygan2]

Ok sorry for the silly question here... Does it really matter if my tank is fully cycled or not or can I just start adding plants whenever? I plan on dosing pps-pro n liquid carbon for now. I have a 55gal that's been running for almost a month now could be just over a month? I have been really busy so I lost track... I finally got around to doing a test and all the levels are showing 0 and ammonia shows .25, I have done nothing with this tank since its been set up, not even one water change. What should I do :s , I have been slacking on research lately. I have my cichlid tank that's been up and running for a while now I could steal some filter media from there to speed things up? I'm honestly lost right now on what to do been way too busy! Thanks in advance!

You can plant anytime, and I'd definitely add some media from your established tank to speed things along. If ammonia is showing up you're not finished cycling. What are you adding as an ammonia source to jump start your cycle? I used pure ammonia with a couple of my tanks and with seeded media they cycled very quickly. Or if you're up to doing water tests and wc's you could add some fish.

 

[Colwell]

You can plant anytime, and I'd definitely add some media from your established tank to speed things along. If ammonia is showing up you're not finished cycling. What are you adding as an ammonia source to jump start your cycle? I used pure ammonia with a couple of my tanks and with seeded media they cycled very quickly. Or if you're up to doing water tests and wc's you could add some fish.

I honestly haven't added anything to jump start. In Canada it's a lot harder to get pure ammonia. I may have already had some media from my established tank in there but I forget.. So I could/should add some fish now? I wanted to add them after I got the plants in there so isn't much stress on the new fish.

 

[Grand1011]

If you seed your tank and plant it, then you could add fish, but id wait a week or two after to let the plants get acclimated. During that time period you can add pinches of fish food to the tank to feed the bacteria as if you were actually feeding fish.